Method for making panty hoses

ABSTRACT

A panty hose is made by first seaming the upper portions of two prolonged stockings together and then making a slit through the joined zones of the stockings. According to an embodiment the stockings are placed on elongated forms with pressure feet facing one another, and then the forms or only the pressure feet are pressed together twice, a plate provided with glue being introduced between the stockings the first time.

June 20, 1972 E. ANDERSEN 3,671,352

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ATTORNEY United; States Patent 3,671,352 Patented June 20, 1972 3,671,352 METHOD FOR MAKINGPANTY HOSES Erik Andersen, Holte, Denmark, assignor to Hans Christian Andersen, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland Filed June 19, 1969, Ser. No. 834,780 Claims priority, application Denmark, June 20, 1968, 2,941/ 68 Int. Cl. B3211 31/00 US. Cl. 156-267 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A panty hose'is made by first seaming the upper portions of two prolonged stockings together and then making a slit through the joined zones of the stockings. According to an embodiment the stockings are placed on elongated forms with pressure feet facing one another, and then the forms or only the pressure feet are pressed together twice,.'a plate provided with glue being introduced between the stockings the first time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a method of making panty hoses, i.e. a combination garment comprising a pair of pants, especially ladies pants, and two stockings, all in one piece.

In the making of panty hoses, it has up to now been the customary procedure to start from a pair of stockings, which are knitted in a length corresponding to the full length of the panty hose. The two stockings are then longitudinally slitted in their upper portions on the sides intended to face one another in the finished panty hose, i.e. on the inner sides of the legs. The slit extends from the welt of the stockings to the location where the crutch is to be formed. The edges of the slits of the two stockings are then sewn together in an ordinary sewing machine, the stockings being manually handled and guided. It is very difficult to keep the edges of the slits under control during the sewing operation, and it has been found that it takes a long training period to obtain the required skill, and even then the production rate is relatively low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the object of the invention to provide a method of making panty hoses by which the drawbacks described are eliminated. To achieve this, according tothe invention, the stocks are first seamed together and then slit. By postponing slitting until the seaming has been performed, the stockings become easier to handlebecause there are no longer any slit edges to be accurately guided relative to one another during the seaming operation.

To obtain a seam of high quality, the upper portions of the stockings are preferably seamed together along two generally parallel lines joined at their lower ends and are then slit between said lines.

The stockings may with advantage he slid onto forms before being seamed together, thereby further facilitating accurate handling in the seaming operatiotp.

On principle, the seaming may be performed in any known manner, including sewing or stitching by means of a sewing device adapted to the purpose, e.g. built into the said forms. However, a simplification and increase of production speed can be obtained, if the stockings are seamed together by adhesion. In the case of certain yarn materials, seaming may be performed by fusion, but generally it will be more advantageous to apply an adhesive to the areas of the two stockings to be united, or at least the relevant area of one of the stockings, and then to press the areas of the two stockings together until the binding has proceeded sufiiciently to permit further handling. The slitting may be performed while the stockings are still being pressed together.

Generally, the stockings used for the making of panty hoses are of the seamless type, which are knitted in the form of cylindrical tubes. Seeing, however, that the width round the hips of the wearer is ordinarily longer than the waistline, it is desirable, in order to avoid wrinkling at the upper edge of the panty hose, that the cross section of the panty hose should decrease from the hip region to the waistline. According to an embodiment of the invention this may be achieved by performing the seaming and splitting in such a manner as to remove from each of the stockings a piece of fabric which at least along part of its length has increasing width towards the upper edge of the stockings.

A suitable way of applying an adhesive is to introduce a plate between the above mentioned forms, said plate being provided with an adhesive on at least one side thereof. Alternatively, an adhesive may be applied by means of brushes or spray nozzles.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the method described. According to the invention, such an apparatus comprises two substantially parallel forms for receiving the portions of the stockings to be sea-med together, each form being provided at the side thereof facing the other form with a pressure foot of a shape corresponding to that of the slit to be made in the joined stockings, and means for moving said pressure feet towards one another to clamp the joined stockings therebetween.

In one embodiment of the invention, said pressure feet are fixed to said forms and are movable together therewith.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the forms are hollow and each pressure foot is movable from a position inside its associated form to a position in which it extends laterally therefrom. In this embodiment the forms may have completely smooth surfaces without projections, whereby the placing of the stockings on the forms is facilitated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows two stocking support forms with pressure feet, forming the essential parts of an apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 a section along the line 11-11 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 a section along the line IIIIII in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 another embodiment of the invention where the stocking support forms are hollow.

All the figures of the drawing are to be understood as purely diagrammatical.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1, 1 and 2 are a right and a left stocking support form respectively, made from sheet material. The forms 1 and 2 have an elongated shape with substantially parallel edges 3, 4 and 5, 6 respectively. The rear ends 7 and 8 of the forms 1 and 2 are rounded. The forms are located in a common plane and are movable towards and away from one another by well known mechanical means here diagrammatically represented by a bar 9 of square cross section and two sleeves 10 having square holes. A pressure foot 11 and 12 respectively is mounted on the edges 4 and 5 of the forms 1 and 2 facing one another. In the embodiment illustrated, the pressure feet 11 and 12 consist of two narrow strips which are bent to a narrow U-shape. In the rounding 13 formed by the bending an incision is provided extending through part of the width of the strip from the rear edge thereof. The spacing of the legs of the U corresponds to the thickness of the forms 8 and 7, and the pressure feet 11 and 12 are mounted on the latter in such a manner as to extend beyond the edges of the forms. At the end remote from the bend 13 the two legs of each pressure foot diverge from one another to form a wedge shaped gap 14.

On the outer edges 3 and 6 of the forms 1 and 2, plates 15 and 16 are mounted which extend perpendicularly from the forms, running in the longitudinal direction of the latter and having a shape such that stockings 17, 18, when slid onto the forms, will have substantially the same lateral tension over the major part of the length of the stockings.

As an example, the edges 19 and of the pressure feet 11 and 12 facing one another may have a width of about 2 mm., but considerable departures greater or less than such a dimension.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The operator slides a stocking 17 and 18 onto each form 1 and 2 until the upper edge of the stocking, the welt, is substantially in register with the terminal edges 21, 22 of the forms 1, 2. Then an adhesive is applied to the areas of the stockings to be united. A suitable way of applying the adhesive is to introduce a plate 23 with an adhesive on both sides thereof between the pressure feet 11 and 12 and then to press the forms 1, 2 and thereby the pressure feet 11, 12 against one another. Thereby the edges 19 and 20 of the pressure feet press the stockings 17 and 18 against the plate 23, so that adhesive is applied to the stockings along a pattern consisting of two substantially parallel lines joined at one end and diverging from each other at the other end. The plate 23 is diagrammatically illustrated as being mounted on a vertically reciprocatable rod 24 so that the plate 23 may be moved down into a receptacle 25 containing adhesive and again moved up into position between the pressure feet. The forms 1 and 2 with the pressure feet 11 and 12 are moved away from one another whereby the plate 23 is liberated and is then removed. The forms are now moved towards one another until the edges 19, 20 of the pressure feet 11, 12 press the stockings firmly together.

When the binding effect has proceeded sufficientlyto permit further handling of the stockings, the fabric present between the U-legs of the pressure feet is cut away, e.g. by introducing a hot wire into the gaps between the said legs. Thereby the panty hose is finished and can be removed from the forms after the latter have been moved away from one another.

As a consequence of the wedge-shaped gap 14 an excess width of fabric is cut away at the upper edge of each stocking so that the width of the combined garment becomes smaller in the waistline region than in the hip region.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment in which the forms are hollow. The pressure feet 11 and 12 are movable in the lateral direction of the forms from positions entirely inside the latter to positions in which they extend from the forms towards one another. In this case the forms are stationary and only the pressure feet are moved towards and 4 away from one another to apply adhesive to the stockings and subsequently to press the latter together.

I claim:

1. A method of making panty hoses comprising the steps of: aligning two prolonged stockings of substantially the same shape and size side by side, applying an adhesive to said stockings along two contiguous lines running from an edge of the stockings to the crutch region of the panty hose so that the panty hose is joined in said region along narrow regions bounding each of said two contiguous lines, and thereafter separating and slitting said united stockings between said lines.

2. A method of making panty hoses comprising the steps of sliding two prolonged stockings of substantially the same sizeand shape onto a pair of stocking forms, applying an adhesive to at least one of said stockings along two contiguous lines running from the upper edge of the stocking to the region forming the crutch region of the panty hose, pressing said forms with said prolonged stockings thereon together to unite said stockings including said crutch region by adhesion along narrow regions bounding said lines, separating said forms from one another, and thereafter slitting said united stockings between said lines.

3. A method of making panty hoses as in claim 1, in which said lines diverge at least along part of their length, and the slitting is so performed as to cut away the fabric between the diverging parts of said lines.

4. A method of making panty hoses comprising the steps of sliding two prolonged stockings of substantially the same size and shape onto a pair of stocking forms each constructed with a protruding elongated presser foot having the shape of two contiguous lines running from said edge of the stockings to the crutch region of the panty hose, introducing a plate having an adhesive applied to at least one surface thereof between said two forms, pressing said forms together so as to press said presser feet with the stockings thereonagainst opposite sides of said plate, separating said forms from one another, retracting said plate from between said forms, pressing said forms with the stockings thereon together to unite said stockings in the area of the presser feet including said crutch region, separating said stocking forms from one another, and thereafter slitting said united stockings between said lines.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1964 Weiss 156-250 9/1969 Mohler 156250 

